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Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra (C) speaks to the media during a press conference after the Constitutional Court suspends her from duty at Government House.

Peerapon Boonyakiat / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

What We’re Watching: Thailand’s PM ousted, Musk vs Trump on bill and midterms, Turkey arrests journalists for blasphemy

Thailand’s PM suspended over flattering phone call

Thailand’s constitutional court accepted a petition on Tuesday to suspend Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as pressure mounts over the leader’s alleged mishandling of a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia. The petition accuses Paetongtarn of violating ethical standards in a leaked phone call with influential Cambodian politician Hun Sen, during which she flattered Hun and disparaged her own country’s military. Paetongtarn now has 15 days to gather evidence pleading her case. If she is removed, her party will likely select a successor, but broader clashes with the opposition – and the streets – may just be beginning.

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U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) speaks to reporters between votes at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, U.S., January 23, 2024.

REUTERS

What We’re Watching: Senate vote on Trump’s big bill, Thai PM in hot water, Japan's name-change game

Trump’s tax-and-spending bill faces razor-thin Senate vote

The US Senate will vote today on President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”. The legislation would make many of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent and would boost spending on the military and immigration enforcement, but its proposed cuts could also leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance by 2034. That, and a projected $3.3 trillion national debt increase over the next decade, has stoked opposition even within the Republican party. GOP Senators Rand Paul and Thom Tillis – who announced he won’t seek reelection – are already opposed, meaning Trump can afford only two more defections. Expect today to be a marathon of votes and revisions to the legislation.

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Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen poses with his son Hun Manet near the capital, Phnom Penh.

REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodia's nepo-baby succession: From strongman to strongson

On Sunday, Cambodia will hold a parliamentary election. It'll be anything but free and fair.

The ruling party controls all 125 seats in parliament. Opposition parties are banned. Political dissidents are silent, fearful that speaking out against the government might be followed by an unfortunate road accident — Cambodia's answer to Russians falling out of windows under Vladimir Putin.

What makes this “election” special is that it should be the last one for Hun Sen, the Southeast Asian country's eternal dictator, ahem, prime minister.

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Hungarian minister tests positive for Covid-19 in Bangkok

November 05, 2020 5:00 AM

BANGKOK • Hungary's foreign minister tested positive for coronavirus in Thailand, the kingdom's health minister said yesterday, a day after Mr Peter Szijjarto jetted in from a meeting with Cambodian Premier Hun Sen.

Cambodian opposition activists sentenced for treason

September 24, 2020 2:24 PM

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Seven Cambodian activists have been handed jail sentences for treason over comments posted online supporting an exiled opposition figure, their lawyer said on Thursday (Sept 24), deepening the kingdom's crackdown on dissent.

Hun Sen denies Cambodia is Chinese 'colony' as work on US$2b road begins

March 22, 2019 3:04 PM

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia broke ground on Friday (March 22) on a US$2 billion (S$2.70 billion) Chinese-funded expressway - the country's first - as strongman premier Hun Sen denied his country was in danger of becoming a colony of Beijing.

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